from the that's-one-way-to-do-it dept

While the judge in the US banned Samsung's devices claiming it was likely that Samsung violated Apple's patents, there was a different result in the UK... where a judge has decided that Samsung didn't violate Apple's design patent, because it's obvious that Samsung's Galaxy Tab is just not as cool as Apple's iPad.

"They do not have the same understated and extreme simplicity which is possessed by the Apple design," said Judge Birss.

"They are not as cool," he said. "The overall impression produced is different."

Amusingly, of course, this puts Samsung in the position of celebrating its lack of coolness.

In the end, this is the right result, but the reasoning is a bit odd, frankly. When patent disputes are being determined based on a judge's determination of "coolness," it seems like perhaps something is wrong with the system itself.